Gallery Whispers

79

'You took your time,' said Pringle as Mackie stepped into his office.

'I'd to stop to get the girl a lawyer.'

'Aye, I thought that might be it. What did she have to say for herself in the end?'

'She said that when Gaynor died, she and the boy were spending the night at her flat. But the flatmates were on nights, so there were no witnesses to that. She says that they went to see her uncle early on last Sunday evening and that afterwards Raymond took her home and went back to Aberdeen.

'What about you?'

The burly Pringle's moustache drooped mournfully. 'The first part of that agrees with his story. We've got that DNA trace, haven't we?'

Mackie nodded. 'Then we should take samples off the kids in that case, just to see if either of them matches up. If they're lying about that-'

'I don't think the DNA will help us much even if it does turn out to be a match for one of them. We couldn't actually prove when it was left on the glass, and the kids could argue that they had been there on another day. Anyway, Andrina seemed like a pretty straight girl to me.

I didn't think she was lying.'

'You'll better hope she was, chum. The boy's version of last Sunday varies from hers. He says that after he left her, when the old man died, he was with another girl. Young Raymond's got something, or so it seems; I just hope he turns out to be a lying wee bastard.'

'Why?'

'Because this is who he says he was with.' He handed the notebook to Mackie.

The younger man ran a hand over his domed head as he looked at the page.

'Oh shit. Who's going to break this news?'

'Toss you for it.'

'No, Clan,' he said, 'we'd better do it together; first thing Monday morning. Meanwhile, I suggest that we take saliva swabs from these two for the DNA comparison, then let them go… to await developments.'